F. Hockey looks to cage Blue Hens in season's first game

After dropping its first four games last year, the Penn field hockey team knows that its season opener is one of the most important games.

"I think the key is to really come out hard," senior Jackie Lange said. "We want to make a statement early and build momentum for the rest of the season."

The Quakers will look to win their opening game for the first time since 1997 when they take on Delaware tomorrow at 1 p.m. on Franklin Field.

The Fightin' Blue Hens, who were ranked as high as No. 17 in the nation last year, are a preseason top 20 team and were selected to be a frontrunner in the Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA). Although they finished a disappointing third in their conference last year, they return a solid core comprised of six seniors.

"Delaware is a very good team this year," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "It's good to play teams that were ranked last year because we learn and get better from the competition."

Delaware (1-1) kicked off its season in the Blue Hen Classic held on their campus. After dropping their season opener to Duke, 3-1, the Blue Hens bounced back to shut out Rutgers, 5-0, the next day.

Leading Delaware in scoring is junior All-American candidate Erica LaBar, who scored over 25 percent of the goals for the Blue Hens last season. LaBar has already totaled three goals and two assists this year.

In order to stop LaBar and the rest of Delaware's attack, Penn will have to rely on an inexperienced defense backed by senior co-captain Emily Farnesi.

Farnesi, however, expresses confidence in her team's ability to meet all the challenges that lie ahead.

"We have a lot of incoming freshmen who are very strong defenders," Farnesi said. "We've all gotten better by competing for the starting jobs in practice."

Farnesi knows that the team would like to get on the board early and then defend its lead to avoid one-goal losses, which plagued the Quakers seven times last season.

"This year is kind of a make it or break it season.... It's do or die for us," Farnesi said. "You don't lose by one goal ever, if you can."

The Quakers will not lack experience at goalie. Coach Cloud expects to platoon last year's starter Amanda Jacobs with freshmen Elizabeth Schlossberg and Christina Congdon.

"They have different strengths and weaknesses," Cloud said. "None of the goalies will be in there for the whole time."

Cloud feels that key non-conference matchups like tomorrow's game can prepare Penn for games against its rivals in the Ancient Eight.

"The Ivy games are always the ones we especially like to win," Cloud said. "Playing Delaware is good because it will prepare us for Harvard next week."

Penn can also look back to a previous matchup against the Blue Hens for confidence that it can beat them. The Quakers blanked Delaware, 4-0, in October of 2000.

Delaware will be the first nationally ranked team from the 2002 season on Penn's schedule. The Quakers will travel to Harvard next Saturday for their Ivy opener and will visit State College to face last year's NCAA runner-up Penn State on Sept. 24.

Penn hosts Princeton on Nov. 7 to close out their season. The Tigers lost to Penn State in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament.

Cloud expressed some relief that the Quakers' first tough opponent will be played in front of a friendly crowd.

"It's always easier to play teams on our home turf," Cloud said. "We want to bring them on down to Franklin Field."

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